Fabulous February: what’s going on in London?

Featuring a very welcome half-time school holiday (great for visiting families, to say the least), February is a particularly good month to visit the UK capital – especially if you’re intent on making use of winter-based London hotel packages. So, what’s going on in the Big Smoke in 2019’s sophomore month…?

Chinese New Year

A perennial favourite event in the month of February for locals and visitors to the capital alike, the Chinese New Year always heralds a cornucopia of colour, excitement, food and fireworks – and is ideal for families. Officially taking place on 5th February 2019, the city’s biggest celebrations (as you’d expect) will pivot around the West End’s Chinatown district in Soho, in particular with a fabulous parade, complete with giant dragons, that’ll snake its way through the area’s streets. Both the parade and day-long performances, activities and food stalls filling Trafalgar Square take place on 10th February.

Valentine’s Day

As in many metropolises around the world, the big deal on Valentine’s Day in London is popping out for a fine a meal with your loved one come the evening of 14th February. And, let’s face it, when it comes to sampling culinary delights, you and yours are undoubtedly spoilt for choice here, with so many cuisines represented at excellent establishments throughout the capital. Indeed, should you have made your base The Barbican Rooms, you’ll find many Barbican restaurants London, not least the nearby Chiswell Street Dining Rooms or The Jugged Hare.

Orchid Festival

An annual festival that sees Kew Gardens’ Prince of Wales Conservatory festooned with a wide variety of the most beautiful and colourful orchids drawn from around the world, this event always draws an eager, green-fingered crowd. And this year’s iteration (18th-24th February) is set to focus on orchid species hailing from the exotic environs of South America’s Colombia. Try to arrange your trip so it coincides with either coincides with a visit by Columbian street food stalls, a Latin big band and traditional dancers. Evening-based ‘after dark’ sessions run throughout the festival too.

London Fashion Week: Insiders

An awesome opportunity to get something of an inside track on the hallowed London Fashion Week (15th-19th February), this event is hosted by The Store X at 180 Strand, right in the heart of the West End, across the weekend of 16th-17th February and enables ticket buyers to get behind-the-scenes of the fashionista-adored festival via attending talks with industry insiders and an exclusive catwalk show.

London Classic Car Show

Ahoy, all petrol heads! The ExCel London’s where to head on 14th-17th February, as the much-loved Classic Car Show rumbles – or should that be revs – into town. Easy to get to then from The Barbican hotel London and always blessed with beautiful, notable and, indeed, remarkable vehicles of yesteryear, it’s an event that’s an absolute must for classic car lovers, especially for its Grand Avenue – a roadway that runs right through the venue and enables attending motors to show what they can do and what they’re all about.

Sporting events

It may not be spring or summer, when the sporting calendar in the UK is chock-full of events, as you may have guessed, but if you don’t mind wrapping up warm and heading out of doors, then February, for sure, has several major sporting fixtures worth checking out. Chief among them has to one of England football’s showpiece events, the EFL/ Carabao (or, if you’re being old-fashioned, the League Cup) final. This year, it’ll be between Chelsea/ Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City/ Burton Albion and will be played at Wembley Stadium on 24th February. And, of course, the biggest deal in the first half of the rugby union year is the Six Nations, which also kicks-off this month. Lovers of the oval ball can catch a blockbuster fixture between England and France at London’s Twickenham Stadium on 10th February.